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Tonearm and Anti Skate Question

Hi, I have a question regarding the behavior of the tonearm on my Pro-ject Classic turntable.

Whenever I use the lifter to raise or lower the tonearm to/from the record, it always swings towards the outer edge of the record for a distance of about 1/2 inch to 1 inch. I have checked the level of my turntable with a leveler, and I have set the anti-skate setting based on the recommendation from the user manual. Sometimes when after playing the last song on the album, as the tonearm moves into the "no groove" zone near the center of the record, the tonearm gets pulled back and played the last few seconds of the record over and over.

I have tried all 3 settings of the anti skate and it still behaves the same. I finally removed the anti skate weight, and now the tonearm doesn’t swing out anymore. I can’t seem to hear any difference in sound quality at any anti skate settings or without anti skating at all.

Anyway, the question I have is whether anyone know what might be causing this tonearm behavior, and whether it is ok to run the turntable without any anti-skating setup. Will this damage my record if I do so?

Thanks in advance.
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mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,252 posts
 
This is actually a rather common problem. For now use your anti skate at the lowest setting to be safe. Clean off the lift and the bottom of the tonearm (were the lift contacts) with brake cleaning fluid or denatured alcohol. Try to gently press down on the end of the lift platform so that it's lift height declines just a little over a record side. This way the tonearm has to go uphill just a little to drift backwards. Usually this is all you have to do. Drifting backwards a little on lift is not a problem. You do want the arm to go straight down when you cue. 
imhififan's avatar
imhififan
2,136 posts
 
I might take a look at the "fishing line". It might be stuck. Maybe I should try some lubrication.
Also clean the hanger contact surface and use a magnifying glass to inspect if there any roughness or wear out.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
I might just try leaving out the anti-skate weight for now. I’m more concerned about putting too much pressure on one side of the record groove and causes damage, if I don’t set the anti-skate.

With your tonearm you might need a bit of antiskating, but in general there are tonearms on the matket without antiskating (professional tonearms) and they are short and long. I have some of them. Professional version of Fidelity-Research FR-64fx PRO does not have antiskating, they say: “if there is a channel imbalance user must increase tracking force by 10%”. 

Another tonearm without antiskating is ‘12 inch Schick tonearm.
lewm
12,570 posts
 
Messing with AS is a poor way, not to say a bad way, to compensate for channel imbalance.  But all pivoted tonearms generate a skating force, and skating forces put undue pressure on the L channel or inside groove walls while also causing mistracking of the outer groove wall or R channel (which can usually be heard as R channel distortion).  So damage can result long term if you don't apply at least a tiny amount of AS.  Or I should say that long term damage is minimized if you at least take a shot at using some AS, vs no AS or too much AS.
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